Delta Air Lines (DAL) issued a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue outlook on Friday, but lowered its full-year earnings guidance as elevated fuel costs continue to pressure profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The airline expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.15 to $1.65 per share, compared with the $1.51 consensus estimate. At the midpoint, Delta\u2019s forecast comes in slightly below Wall Street expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Revenue is projected to reach approximately $17.53 billion during the December quarter, exceeding analysts\u2019 estimate of $17.19 billion. Delta said revenue momentum is continuing into the fourth quarter, with strength across products and geographic markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the solid demand environment, higher fuel prices remain a major headwind. Delta said its fourth-quarter guidance assumes fuel prices based on the forward curve as of Oct. 2 and includes an estimated refinery benefit of roughly $0.40 per gallon. The carrier expects an all-in fuel price of approximately $4.25 per gallon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Delta highlighted what it described as the structural durability of its business despite the challenging fuel environment, noting that the company expects to absorb roughly $6 billion in increased fuel costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The airline also lowered its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings outlook to between $5.10 and $5.60 per share, down substantially from its previous forecast of $6.50 to $7.50. Wall Street analysts had been expecting approximately $5.59 per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The revised outlook puts greater emphasis on Delta\u2019s ability to maintain pricing power and revenue growth while navigating higher operating expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For investors, the report presents a mixed picture: underlying travel demand remains resilient and fourth-quarter revenue could exceed expectations, but elevated fuel costs are taking a significant bite out of earnings and forcing Delta to reset its full-year profit expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Airline expects fourth-quarter sales to top Wall Street estimates as revenue momentum offsets pressure from sharply higher fuel costs Delta Air Lines (DAL) issued a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue outlook on Friday, but lowered its full-year earnings guidance as elevated fuel costs continue to pressure profitability. The airline expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.15 to $1.65 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[]},"categories":[343,361,340],"tags":[699,420,416,418,417],"coauthors":[454],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11300,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299\/revisions\/11300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11299"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoxpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}